Acceptance
by loanshark
Summary: Just a short little story on acceptance and friendship. one shot, slight AU, original characters, reflective...please read!


**Important:** This is an essay that I had to write for my school, except I changed the names of the characters. Because of the circumstances, I put Yami and Yugi as twins, and Bakura and Ryou as another set of twins. I also gave Bakura a first name: Rikyu. Don't ask. All right? Oh, and also because of the circumstances, there is a lot of explaining going on…

**Summary:** Just a short little story on acceptance and friendship.

**Warnings:** Original characters, slight AU.

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We all laughed, as students were meant to do no matter how lame the joke made by the teacher had been. All of us save one.

The girl at fault had come from overseas a month ago and was staying until the end of the year. She had a unique name of Juana Ballard, and with flawless skin and a head full of waist-length black hair, she was easily one of the prettier girls in class. Yet she was also an outcast.

For the first few days it seemed as though she had made a friend. Rachel, one of the more outgoing and friendly girls in class, had begun talking to her and getting to know her better. Sitting next to her and being in the same project group made this an even easier task. However, they slowly seemed to break connections. It was painfully obvious to anyone who bothered to look how Juana's eyes lit up when she saw Rachel approaching. But the latter always seemed to ignore her, especially after the project had been handed in. No one else cared to speak to this new girl whom they knew nothing of, and so she was left to her own devices.

Distantly, I heard the lunch bell ring, and watched as she took out a lunch bag and walked out of the classroom. I had often seen her sitting by herself at one corner of a table, eating quickly before taking out some paper and writing. She was always writing, for some reason or other. None of us could figure out why.

"Earth to Ryou, earth to Ryou, are you there, Ryou Bakura?" it was the sudden use of my full name that actually pulled me back to reality. Looking up, I saw my twin brother shaking his head at me. The older of the two of us, he claimed as his own the right to occasionally boss me around. "Come on," he said impatiently, tossing my lunch bag at me. "Yami wants to lock the door."

Walking out of the classroom door, I was greeted with the sight of Yami's smirk as he waited, key in hand. The older of the second set of twins in our class, he was much like my own brother: confident, outgoing, relatively responsible, and extremely stubborn. His twin, Yugi, was more like I was: shy, reserved and quiet. It is funny how genes work sometimes.

"What's the matter, Ryou?" Yami's smirk never wavered as he turned to lock the door. "You were in another world altogether just now. If it weren't for Rikyu, I would have locked you in the room. Daydreaming about a girl?"

His smirk widened as I flushed and glared half-heartedly at him. Fortunately he decided not to pursue the topic as the three of us walked toward the canteen where the rest of our friends already were.

The people Rikyu and I hang out with are alike in one way, and it is that we have all suffered losses. Our own mother died soon after we were born. Father is an archaeologist, and is seldom at home. The two of us stay alone, living off the money that our father places in our bank account every month.

Yami and Yugi Mutou's parents had both died in an accident when they were around five years old. Fortunately for them, their grandfather took them in, raising them on his own. The old man owns a game shop, which might have been partly responsible for their love and mastery of games and duel monsters in particular. Yet, as much good this is, they both miss their parents greatly, especially when the anniversary of the accident comes around.

Seto Kaiba's parents had also died in an accident, but it happened when he was about ten years old. Seto's situation was even worse than that of the other twins: he had no relatives to take him in, and he also had a brother five years his junior to look after. When both had finally been adopted, since Seto refused to be parted from his brother, it was by a cold businessman who trained Seto up to be the same. When this man they called their father died and left the company behind, it was Seto who took over. I still think it seems impossible, but it is true: Seto is the wealthy CEO of a company worth millions of dollars.

Joseph Wheeler, or Joey, had a different story. His parents had divorced when he was young. The worst part was when his mother left, taking his beloved younger sister with her. The two were kept apart until just one year ago, when Joey finally saw both his mother and his sister for the first time in about ten years. Yet it was not in the best of situations, for his sister was in the hospital for an eye operation. Thankfully it was a success, and became on bright point in Joey's bleak life.

Finally, there are Tristan Taylor and Téa Gardner. Truthfully, I do not know much about their past. Only Joey knows anything about Tristan's past, as the two had been friends for the longest time among us. As for Téa, her past is still a mystery. She never talked about it, and none of us ever asked.

I like to believe that it was our losses that drove us together, and it was our friendship that helped us heal. Before we became friends, each of us was notorious in his own way. Joey and Tristan were part of a gang and were also bullies. They had actually picked on Yugi before, who used to be very introverted, keeping only to himself and his brother. I was told that he used to bring games to school, playing them between classes and during lunch. His short stature and seemingly childish nature made him a big target to bullies around school. Fortunately, his brother usually helped him out of most of them, although some were unavoidable.

Yami used to be an extremely overprotective brother. His parents' death forced him into the position of 'guardian' to Yugi, despite the presence of their grandfather. He became involved in many verbal arguments, although there were no physical fights. However, these verbal arguments included one against Seto.

Due to his upbringing, Seto became a cold, hard-hearted person, with warmth only shown to his younger brother. His face seemed fixed in a permanent frown, and he pretty much ignored the world around him, until the day when he accidentally walked straight into Yugi and Yami, spilling their bags and books in all directions.

Téa had been a wanderer and an outcast, much as Juana was now. She had quite courageously broken up Yami and Seto's argument, glaring at both of them angrily until they backed down, from her and from each other. This little act had earned her much respect from them, whether willingly or grudgingly given. It was also the start of a friendship between her, the twins and Seto, one that Joey and Tristan joined several days later after Yugi stood up for them against the biggest bully in the school and was beaten up for it. His bravery was not in vain, however, as the bully was expelled for it.

The six became great friends, finding understanding listeners in each other. A week after all this happened, Rikyu and I walked into their lives.

Without any proper maternal upbringing and the continuous absence of our father, Rikyu also became a cold person to everyone, including me. He was involved in many fistfights, especially when his pride became an issue. It was because of this tendency that we joined that group of friends.

Yugi and I hit off immediately. I was much like he had been, and it was mainly thanks to him that I became more open to those around me. However, Yami and Rikyu were bitter rivals, and this only ended after much ignored pleading from the two younger brothers and after we were forced to work together against the gang that Joey and Tristan used to be in.

Friendship can do wonders to anyone. Yugi and I became less shy, Yami became less overprotective, Joey and Tristan tamed down, stopped bullying others and left the gang, Téa opened up and Seto and Rikyu both warmed up to more people. I had this distinct feeling that as aloof as Juana seemed, all she needed was someone to talk to and she would be as friendly as anyone else was.

However, I could not possibly approach her myself. There was an unspoken rule concerning boys and girls that everyone knew, and was about crushes on those of the other gender. If I went to talk to her, the class would be abuzz with news that I liked her. Only Téa was free from this, although she was always with us, and that was because she was with a group of boys, not just one boy. If only Téa could bring her to our group…

It was as though the said girl had read my thoughts, for when we reached the table where the others were sitting, Juana was there beside her. Seeing the three of us, Téa smiled. "That is Ryou, Rikyu and Yami," she told her. "I'm sure you know that this is Juana."

The latter smiled at us shyly in greeting, and one could easily see that she was happy to be among people who accepted her as a friend. Yami grinned, and nudging me, he leaned over and whispered in my ear. "I see your wish came true."

Once again I glared at him angrily, causing him to yelp and spring behind Yugi, who merely rolled his eyes. We all laughed at his reaction, himself included.

And this time, there was none at fault.

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All right, you can all kill me now. Please R/R anyway, at least to let me know that SOMEONE read this…pretty please? No flames, thanks.


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